Inga Saffron tells the long, sad story, and the happy ending, of the Rittenhouse Hotel, the tower with the pleated façade on Rittenhouse Square.
Taking Art Critics To See Yasmina Reza’s ‘Art’
Stephen Moss: “It is a clever, calculating piece of theatre, but does it really have anything to say about modern art? We set up our own three-hander to find out – Guardian art critics Adrian Searle and Skye Sherwin, and me in the middle, playing the part of the hapless Yvan, eager to get answers to big questions.”
The Last Time We Fought For The NEA’s Very Existence: A Look Back At The ’90s Culture Wars
“[Here] are excerpts from the ARTnews archives that detail the [1989-91] struggle over NEA funding, including the controversy surrounding a Corcoran Gallery of Art Mapplethorpe show, Democratic representative Mary Rose Oakar’s response, and Republican senator Jesse Helms’s vow to avenge what he saw as a loss.
E-Book Sales Are Falling
“Nielsen found that e-book unit sales from reporting publishers were down 16% in 2016 from 2015. Units fell the most in the juvenile fiction segment, where e-book sales dropped 28% in the year and accounted for 10% of total category unit sales in 2016, down from 14%. (E-books have never been a big factor in juvenile nonfiction and accounted for 1% of units sold in 2016.)”
Instagram Is Infiltrating The Art Market
Auction houses and contemporary galleries alike are using the photo-sharing tool to connect with interested buyers. Half of buyers in one survey said Instagram was their favorite social media platform; among the younger buyers, it was two-thirds.
Artist Wants To Borrow Back Piece For Retrospective – And Finds That MoMA Has Thrown It Out
“MoMA has a sterling reputation as a protector of art, art books and hundreds of thousands of documents relating to its collection.” Well, it had one. Poor Pat Lasch …
Roman Amphitheatre In Palmyra Trashed By ISIS
The militia “destroyed part of the theater [including the façade] and severely damaged a tetrapylon, a square structure of four plinths, each with four columns.”
Is IKEA Destroying The Antiques Trade?
Well, the antiques business is at its lowest point since the 1930s, and IKEA is cruising along. One design critic lists six alternatives, including an open-sourced furniture design shop.
The Composer’s Job During The Trump Administration
And not just the job of composers, but of every creative person: “There’s a lot of talk about opposing extremism and intolerance in the world and it’s fine to oppose violence and destruction through developing a counter-narrative or developing a cogent military strategy (those are vital things), but the ultimate response of resistance to violence and destruction is creation.”
We Can Learn How To Fight For Arts Funding From New York In The 1970s
One idea – among many – is to talk about money: “Indeed, the late ’70s saw the emergence of the idea that theatre might not be a drain on the city’s coffers, but actually help fill them—a school of thought that still holds today, with theatre as an economic engine on a par with tech (something has to replace manufacturing, right?).”
The Movies, TV Shows, And Theatre That Won Awards For Casting
At the Artios Awards, casting directors on both coasts were wondering if the long-requested casting director Oscar might join the Academy Awards soon.
What’s It Like To Be Set On Fire For Art?
Stuntwomen reveal all, or at least what they can say to the NYT without losing work: “Your mind has to overcome your body. If I’m standing on a building and I have to do a high fall, every part of my brain says, ‘Don’t do this.’ But then they say ‘Action!’ and my body goes into autopilot. You override something that’s not natural for human beings.”
By The Time They’re Five Months Old, Babies Already Know What They Think Is Funny
That’s sort of young. “So how do they do it? Like children and adults, infants appear to rely on two key features to detect funniness.”
Barack Obama’s Literary Legacy (So Far)
The 44th president cared – a lot – about books. What does that mean now?
75 Books For Survival and Resistance
A few dozen writers respond to a question from LitHub about what is necessary reading for the next four years. “As Paula Gunn Allen reminds us: ‘The root of oppression is the loss of memory.'”
UK Comedians Write Manifesto Against Free Work
“There is an alarming expectation that comedians will happily perform for expenses or even for free, without any promise of paid work in the future. This has created downward pressure on rates of pay and quality of working conditions for us all and can prevent participation by those with childcare and other responsibilities leading to a lack of diversity.”
Profanity’s Important Role In How We Express Ourselves
“Though research has not done much for profanity, the opposite is not true. Neurologists have learned a great deal about the brain from studying how brain-damaged people use swearwords—notably, that they do use them, heavily, even when they have lost all other speech. What this suggests is that profanity is encoded in the brain separately from most other language.”
Why Is Canada Cheaping Out In Commissioning Music For Parliament?
In an era when artists in general, and musicians in particular, are battling to get public understanding for their right to be paid, it is disheartening to learn that even the House of Commons just doesn’t get it. “Why on earth do people expect artists to do this kind of thing?” asks Montreal composer Simon Bertrand, who has organized an online petition requesting the award be raised. “When Parliament hires a plumber, do they tell the guy, come and work for free and then we’ll see what we think?”
Study: Smart People Like Morbid Humor
“A research team led by neurologist Ulrike Willinger of the Medical University of Vienna reports appreciating black humor “seems to be a complex information-processing task,” one that is facilitated by high intelligence and inhibited by bad moods.”
The Hermitage, Archaeologists, And Drones Create 3D Model Of Palmyra
“The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg has joined forces with a Russian archaeological institute to build an interactive virtual model of Palmyra, as reports emerged today that Islamic State militants have destroyed the ancient city’s amphitheatre and four pillared gates.”